Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Palaces of Sintra - Portugal

A few days ago I told a friend that I need to go to Sintra again to visit the palaces I didn't visit yet. These cards sent by Vera and Ninocas show the ones I already visited. 

Located in the Sintra hills, the Park and Palace of Pena are the fruit of King Ferdinand II’s creative genius and the greatest expression of 19th-century romanticism in Portugal, denoting clear influences from the Manueline and Moorish styles of architecture. The palace was built in such a way as to be visible from any point in the park, which consists of a forest and luxuriant gardens with over five hundred different species of trees originating from the four corners of the earth. - in: http://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/parks-and-monuments/park-and-national-palace-of-pena/

Also they known as Paço Real (Royal Palace) or Palácio da Vila (Town Palace), the Sintra National Palace is situated in the Praça da República, the “centre or the city historical centre“. 
Its two huge twin chimneys, from the Palace kitchen, are the image of this Palace and completely dominate the landscape of this historical centre, classified as world heritage by UNESCO. 
In its origin this was a Moorish Palace, being years after one of the preferred places of Portuguese kings and queens, even though the palace that we can see nowadays has suffered changes all over the centuries and new parts were increased to the initial structure. 
Sintra National Palace is unique amongst the royal mediaeval palaces in Portugal, forever linked to the most significant periods of the Portuguese History. - in: http://www.getportugal.com/en/poi-palacio-nacional-de-sintra-4872

Iberianlandscapes.net * © Sergiy Scheblykin 2014
The Moors Castle is a ruinous castle that is set  amidst the lush forests of the Sintra hills and is a popular tourist attraction of Sintra. The castle was established during the 9th century by the North African Moors to guard the town of Sintra but it fell into disrepair after the Christian conquest of Portugal.

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